December 14, 2011

Profile: Liege mass killer Nordine Amrani

Nordine Amrani was known to Belgian police as a gun enthusiast long before the day he killed at least four people and himself, wounding more than 120.

The man who left his home in Liege on Tuesday with a Fal assault rifle, hand grenades and a revolver had received a five-year prison sentence in 2008 for possessing a large arsenal and growing cannabis.

However, a court of appeal acquitted him of the gun conviction a year later on the grounds that he had had the necessary permissions to keep them, his lawyer Jean-Francois Dister told La Libre Belgique newspaper.

When he was paroled in 2010, his guns were not returned because of his drug-dealing conviction but otherwise he was under no special gun restrictions, Mr Dister explained.

According to Liege public prosecutor Daniele Reynders, the paroled man showed no sign of mental instability.

At the time of the massacre, he was again in trouble with the police, but this time in a vice case.

Indeed, the 32-year-old had been due to attend a police station for questioning on the day he launched his attack.

Life-long felon

Amrani was born 15 November 1978, of Moroccan extraction.

A welder by profession, he was constantly in trouble with the law, Liege chief prosecutor Cedric Visart de Bocarme said.